Thanks for reading! I don't own any of Naruto! Please let me know if you enjoy!
—
After the great ninja war, Sakura Haruno filled her time with work.
Sakura made it her mission in life to learn everything that she could from her mentor, Tsunade, so that she could save as many lives as possible.
Like Tsunade, Sakura spent a great deal of time studying poisons and their effects in an effort to produce antidotes to even the most rare substances.
While pursuing such studies, Sakura actually found that she spent a significant amount of time in Suna
Sometimes a few days….
Sometimes a week…..
Sometimes a month…...
The medical nin in Suna were skillful, knowledgeable, and helpful.
Sakura found working with them to be easy.
Gaara, the Kazekage, was well aware of Sakura's presence and whenever he saw the pinkette walking down the street or making her
rounds at the hospital, he greeted her politely.
Whenever Sakura visited Suna, she brought her knowledge and shared it with the Sunese Shinobi.
That meant that whenever Sakura made a discovery, so did the Sunese Shinobi.
Sakura working and learning in Suna meant that more and more of Gaara's people would benefit and for that, Gaara was grateful to Sakura, just as she was to him for allowing her to come, work, and learn.
Other Shinobi nations were not that friendly….
It was on occasion, when Sakura was sent by the Hokage, or working on something of great importance, that she would have meetings with Gaara to discuss her research, or to carry messages back home from him to the Hokage.
Gaara was quiet and reserved, but Sakura always enjoyed chatting with him.
Gaara had grown more…...dignified with age.
Sometimes, as Gaara's guest, Sakura dined with him and the closest members of his inner circle.
Sakura was certain that she imagined it, but every once in a while, on such occasions, Sakura could have promised that she saw Gaara's smokey jade eyes linger on her for just a moment.
Whenever Sakura returned his glance though, Gaara quickly looked away.
Sakura smiled.
It was nothing.
Besides, it wasn't like Sakura wanted it to be anything.
It was a wonderful opportunity to work with a neighboring nation on such important research.
It was also a great honor to have a Kage as a personal friend.
That was all.
—
After a long six week period of work, Sakura had finally completed her latest research and was waiting in Gaara's office one afternoon to brief him on what she had found before she started her journey home to Konoha.
Sakura shifted in her chair while she waited, standing up when the door opened abruptly and Gaara walked in.
"Hello, Gaara-sama." Sakura said with a bright smile.
"Hello, Sakura." Gaara said with a polite nod, giving Sakura a small smile in return.
No more words passed between them as Gaara closed the door behind himself, walked over, and took his seat.
Sakura eased back down into the chair.
"I trust that you've learned a lot?" Gaara asked.
"Oh, yes!" Sakura said excitedly, "With the new developments, we're hopeful that we can make at least two new antidotes, maybe more! It's a huge breakthrough!"
"Good." Gaara said simply with a small smile.
"Yes." Sakura nodded.
"So then you'll be coming back soon?" Gaara asked.
Sakura blinked. "Uh…...well, yes, I'm not sure when, but I'll be back to work on the formula for—-"
"-Have you rented an apartment or are you still staying at the inn?" Gaara asked suddenly.
Sakura found that to be an oddly invasive question.
Sakura recovered her thoughts and replied. "No, I'm still at the inn, I didn't think—-"
"If you like, there's room at the Kage mansion now that Temari moved out. You could stay here in her old room." Gaara offered.
"Oh," Sakura breathed. "I don't know what to say…..thank you, Gaara-sama, that's very kind of you…." Sakura said with a nod.
Gaara was very serious as he spoke, "Thank you for all the work that you've done here, Sakura Haruno. The people of Suna will benefit from your research for years to come."
Sakura nodded graciously. "It's all been my pleasure. I'm glad I can help."
There really wasn't much else to say, but the way that Gaara's intense smokey eyes lingered on Sakura made her blush.
Sakura cleared her throat and stood to leave, but Gaara rose with her.
"Oh, you don't have to walk me out, it's ok." Sakura said quickly, waving her hand.
Gaara didn't reply as he stepped closer and closer, stopping when he stood mere inches away from Sakura.
"It always makes me happy when you come here." Gaara whispered in his raspy voice.
Sakura's pink cheeks turned red as Gaara's eyes bored into her own.
"It makes me happy too, Gaara-sama." Sakura admitted quietly.
Sakura's mind reeled.
Where was this going?
Gaara narrowed his eyes at Sakura as if he were about to go into battle and Sakura blinked as he leaned his head down…
Down…
Down…
Down!
When Gaara pressed his lips against Sakura's, Sakura closed her eyes.
Gaara's lips were soft and his kiss was innocent, it wasn't forceful or rough, it wasn't pressuring or dirty.
It was just…...innocent.
Sakura raised a hand up and laid it on Gaara's cheek, which sent a strangely wonderful feeling of excitement rushing through his body when his office door opened again without warning.
One of Gaara's high ranking Shinobi came barging into the room.
"Lord Gaara, I—-oh….Oh! Forgive me, I didn't mean to interrupt." The man said as Sakura and Gaara hastily stepped away from each other.
"It's fine, I was just leaving." Sakura said quickly, walking past the man and out the door.
"But you'll be back soon? To work on the antidotes?" Gaara called.
Sakura turned around and looked at Gaara with a nod, "Yes, Kazekage-sama…...I'll be back soon."
The way that Gaara and Sakura looked at each other made it obvious…
Both of them hoped Sakura would return to Suna quickly, but not because of the antidote….